Wes Streeting Cuts NHS HQ Staff Numbers In Half

Plans to cut staff numbers in half at NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care were unveiled yesterday amidst drastic cost-cutting procedures.

The ‘bonfire of bureaucrats’ is aimed at eliminating duplication throughout the organisations after their labor forces swelled throughout the pandemic.

Health secretary Wes Streeting is likewise seeking to tighten his control over the NHS, deliver much better worth for taxpayers and free-up cash for the frontline.

Three more NHS England board members yesterday revealed they will quit at the end of this month, following the current resignations of president Amanda Pritchard and nationwide medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis.

The most current leaders to join the exodus are Julian Kelly, the primary financial officer, Emily Lawson, the chief operating officer, and Steve Russell, the chief shipment officer and nationwide director for vaccination and screening.

NHS England is the national quango tasked with overseeing the daily running of the health service and its long-term strategy.

It was established by the Tories in 2013 to offer it greater political independence but Mr Streeting is keen to restore tighter control from within his Department.

NHS England said in a declaration: ‘As part of the need to make best possible usage of taxpayers’ money to support frontline services, the size of NHS England will be significantly minimized and might see the size of the centre decrease by around half.’

The deeper staffing cuts follow a decrease of about 4,000 to 6,000 workers at NHS England over the past two years and about 800 at the Department of Health and Social Care.

Health secretary Wes Streeting is likewise looking for to tighten his control over the NHS, amidst plans to cut staff numbers in half at NHS England and the Department of Health

Former NHS England chief Amanda Pritchard will step down from her position at the end of this month

NHS England chief delivery officer Steve Russell (left) and chief running officer Emily Lawson (best) are among the current bosses to join the exodus

Sir Jim Mackey, who will end up being interim president at the start of April, will set up a transition group within NHS England to ‘lead the extreme reduction and reshaping of the centre with the Department of Health and Social Care’.

He said: ‘We understand that today’s news is unsettling for our personnel, and we have considerable difficulties and changes ahead.’We intend to have a transition group in place to begin on the 1st April 2025 to assist lead us through this duration.’

Ms Pritchard said in a note to personnel, seen by the Health Service Journal: ‘In the last number of weeks, I have actually stated I think the time is best for radical reform of the size and functions of the centre to best assistance regional NHS systems and service providers to deliver for patients and drive the government’s reform priorities.’

She said Mr Streeting had asked Sir Jim and Penny Dash, the inbound NHS England chair, to ‘lead this work, delivering significant modifications in our relationship with DHSC to remove duplication’.

Mr Streeting stated: ‘I ‘d like to put on record my thanks to Julian, Emily and Steve for their commitment as public servants, and their work in specific helping steer the NHS through the pandemic.

‘I have actually enjoyed working with each of them over the last 8 months and I have actually been impressed by their ability and focus on delivering improvement for clients and staff.

‘We are going into a of crucial change for our NHS. ‘With a more powerful relationship between the Department for Health and Social Care and NHS England, we will collaborate with the speed and seriousness required to satisfy the scale of the challenge.’

Since June last year, NHS England employed just under 15,000 full-time comparable staff, including long-term, short-term and consultancy. The Department of Health and Social Care had around 9,000, consisting of the UK Health Security Agency. These are both around 30 per cent more than in January 2020.

NHS England primary financial officer Julian Kelly has actually also added his name to leaders resigning from their positions

Professor Stephen Powis, the NHS nationwide medical director, announced recently he would step down this summer

UNISON head of health Helga Pile stated: ‘Staff will be understandably worried about this unexpected change of direction.

‘The number of redundancies being looked for at NHS England has trebled in just a matter of weeks.

‘Em ployees there have actually already been through the mill with endless rounds of reorganisation. What was currently a difficult possibility has actually now ended up being more like a headache.

‘Fixing a damaged NHS needs a proper strategy, with main bodies resourced and managed successfully so regional services are supported.

‘Rushing through cuts brings a risk of developing an even more, more complex mess and might ultimately hold the NHS back. That would pull down the very people who require it most, the clients.’

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: ‘These changes are occurring at a scale and speed not expected to start with, however given the substantial savings that the NHS requires to make this year it makes good sense to lower locations of duplication at a nationwide level and for the NHS to be led by a leaner centre.

‘NHS England has already provided substantial savings and helped to deliver improvements in productivity, however national bodies and local NHS leaders understand that more is needed this year.

‘These changes represent the biggest reshaping of the NHS’s national architecture in more than a decade. It is essential that regional NHS organisations and other bodies are associated with this change as the instant next actions become clearer, so that an optimum operating model can be produced.

‘This should be about doing things in a different way for the benefit of local communities as both clients and taxpayers, along with for personnel ahead of yearly study results on Thursday that are yet again anticipated to show the extreme obstacles they deal with.’

Wes Streeting